~ God is up to something

Chasing the American Dream

As Americans we chase this so called “American Dream”. We work for the weekend. We kill ourselves working and miss out on the rest of life. It’s as though we live to work. We work to pay the bills. We spend more than we make and end up constantly needing to work more to make up for this.

It’s such a vicious cycle and makes us miserable people. Yes many of us love our jobs…many of us don’t. And yes we should do everything as though working for the Lord, as it says in Colossians 3:23. But we get so caught up in the world of working that we forget to enjoy life.

I am guilty of it. When I don’t like my job, I work and work to get more hours and make more money to pay for the “things” that I think will make me happy. Even when I love my job, then I spend more time there and claim that it doesn’t feel like work because it’s what I love.

And yes our jobs can help people and make a difference. But there is more to life than just slaving away at whatever profession we have chosen. We are where we are for a reason and Lord will use our gifts and talents but we have to remember that we need to pour out into our community too. We need to take time to relax and be refreshed. We need to take time to be in God’s word, and talking to him. We need to make time to fellowship with other believers, outside the realm of work. (I make the last point as I work in a Christian setting.)

Our jobs are so important and provide us with important connections to others and chances to further the kingdom. But we need to remember that we should not be controlled by work. It should never become our idol. It should not be our distraction from the rest of our assignments. It should never become our whole life.

I’ve noticed that for myself, since I am much happier at my job and I love the people that I work with, and I love what I do, that I am tempted to spend more and more time at my job and making less time for the other things the the Lord is calling me to do. It also takes away from the times where I allow myself to be recharged and refreshed.

With that too though, when we get involved in our ministries and in our assignments, we need to make sure that we do not allow that to keep us from being recharged and refreshed in the Lord. We NEED to spend alone time with him and talk to him so that we can pour into others and spread Christ’s love.

We need to take care of our families and make sure that we are doing all that we can for them to help them in their relationship with Christ. We cannot allow our jobs to burn us out, nor can we allow the ministries and the serving to completely drain us.

As great as jobs and ministry are, we need to make sure that we take the time to slow down and be quiet. We need to take time to be with Jesus and talk to him. We can’t expect him to help us if we don’t make the time for him.

We can’t fulfill a key assignment of praising him and worshiping him, if we don’t make time for him and keep other things from becoming idols in our lives.

I encourage you to make sure that you are not making your job an idol and that you are not making your ministry an idol. Make sure that you are making time for Christ and making sure that he has your full attention. Make sure that you are praising him and putting him first, even if it means you saying no to other things.

He’ll make sure to take care of you. Has he not always provided for you? Has he not always taken care of you and given you what you need to survive?

“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” Matthew 6:26

Trust him. Make sure you give him what he deserves. He’s got you. He loves you and will give you what you need. You are precious to him.